On Twitter

About this page and the author

The author of this blog, David T.S. Fraser, is a Canadian privacy lawyer who practices with the firm of McInnes Cooper. He is the author of the Physicians' Privacy Manual. He has a national and international practice advising corporations and individuals on matters related to Canadian privacy laws.

For full contact information and a brief bio, please see David's profile.

Please note that I am only able to provide legal advice to clients. I am not able to provide free legal advice. Any unsolicited information sent to David Fraser cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged.

Privacy Calendar

Links

RSS FEED for this site

Blogs I Follow

Small Print

The views expressed herein are solely the author's and should not be attributed to his employer or clients. Any postings on legal issues are provided as a public service, and do not constitute solicitation or provision of legal advice. The author makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to. Nothing herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

This web site is presented for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and David T.S. Fraser. If you are seeking specific advice related to Canadian privacy law or PIPEDA, contact the author, David T.S. Fraser.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Scanning license plates to find stolen cars

I've seen SUVs with roof mounted cameras and stickers from the Insurance Bureau of Canada strolling down the lanes of Halifax and Vancouver, apparently checking license plates of parked cars against a database of stolen vehicles. Now police in Ohio are using a similar system that checks every car that enters the Ohio Turnpike. Techdirt has a pointer and a comment or two on this type of surveillance:

Techdirt:Don't Try Driving On The Ohio Turnpike In A Stolen Car:
"from the or,-um,-change-the-plates-first dept.
Beck writes 'The Ohio State Highway Patrol reports that they tested a license plate scanning system on the Ohio Turnpike last summer. The system scanned the plates of cars entering the Turnpike, and alerted the Patrol when it detected a car that was reported stolen, or was owned by a wanted fugitive. Troopers were then able to locate the car and pull it over. They say that the system identified 24 stolen cars during the test. The Highway Patrol says that the scanners only looked at lists of stolen cars and fugitives and did not access BMV records, nor did they retain a record of scanned plates.' "

Labels: information breaches, surveillance